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nol · 08-13-2014, 01:49 PM

December 2035

Some bad news to start the month as 4* PF Robbins spurns us for Seton Hall. That leaves us scrambling, but at least nobody seems desperate enough to ask my opinion on recruits. Doss was dinged up a bit in our last game, so he'll probably sit this next one against Boston University.

We outclass our guests, but aren't playing with too much urgency in the first half and let them hang around. We take a 33-27 lead into intermission thanks to getting 4 points on our final possession (could have been five - scored a basket, got fouled, the player who fouled got a technical, but our non-technical foul shooter missed the free throw).

Coach Holston really let them have it at halftime, and we start the 2nd half on a 21-2 run. Hopefully he remembers to save some of those speeches for Virginia Tech and UNC. With 7 minutes left, Duley and Kratzer have outscored BU 39-29. We pick up our first home win of the season in a 69-38 laugher. BU went 1-22 from 3-point land. Kratzer and Duley are our big scorers, but I'm falling more and more in love with Lindsey Jones' game each time out - 9 points on 2-3 shooting along with 10 assists, 0 turnovers, 5 boards, and 2 steals.

Fairfield comes to visit us and our 3-1 record. A bench player of theirs by the name of James Damron is unconscious in the first half, and his 12 points helped them to a 39-37 lead. They're throwing a junk 2-1-2 defense at us, while we only committed one turnover for the half, our shot selection was not doing us any favors. The tone in our locker room wasn't too distraught, as we knew that playing our game combined with them cooling off a bit would bring us a W.

We score the first 5 points of the 2nd half and make them call a timeout 1:30 in. We push the lead out to 8 points and miss several free throws and transition opportunities to really put a cushion between us and Fairfield, but we get enough stops and make our free throws when intentionally fouled and emerge with a 68-59 win. Duley's shooting reverted to last season's form (12 points on 3-19, 1-9 on threes), but he chipped in 7 rebounds and 6 assists without a turnover. Kratzer was our POG with 13 and 7.

On the road against #7 Pittsburgh, we start out well enough. Pittsburgh's sloppy at the start with illegal screens and shot clock violations and we jump to a 16-8 lead. Then, Kratzer picks up his 2nd foul and we have to hold on for dear life. Beau comes up with some big buckets for us and we force them to call the game's first timeout as we take a 24-15 lead with 7:26 left in the half. We continue playing out of our minds, shooting 61% as a team on our way to a 42-26 halftime lead. Beau leads us with 18. The one negative is that Dave put Kratzer back in long enough for John to pick up his 3rd foul.

The 2nd half is ugly basketball on both sides. We get too conservative on offense and come away with some shot clock violations. Pitt can't hold on to the ball for enough possessions in a row to manufacture a run. We win a deceptively close contest, 56-46, that saw Pitt make 2 three-pointers with under 30 seconds left. When you score 14 points in a half and still win by double digits over a top-ten team, you'll take that any day of the week.

In our home tilt versus Vermont, their PF John Slaughter keeps them in the game by scoring 11 of their first 15 points. Once Dave goes to my personal favorite backcourt lineup of Duley, Doss, and Jones we quickly open a double-digit lead, but Slaughter comes right back at. With 1:40 left, our lead is back down to 31-27. He's finding too many holes in our 1-3-1, so I call for us to go back to man defense. The very next possession, Doss reads a passing lane and gets a breakaway layup.

In the 2nd half, Vermont briefly takes a lead with 12 minutes to go after a Reggie Miller-like sequence from their SG Ahmed Chaisson. After a much-needed timeout, we settle down some and bring the lead back to 12 thanks to some opportune steals and transition opportunities. William Quesada had his best game in a BC uniform thus far and ends up with 15 and 6 on 6-10 shooting. He and Doss (14 and 6) really picked up the slack on the wing for Jones, who was saddled with foul trouble. Don't get too carried by our 6-1 record, though: Rutgers and Rhode Island are a combined 2-16 on the season. However, I couldn't be happier with how my first season's going so far, and we can hopefully run our record to 9-1 with 3 winnable home games to close December (Hofstra, Hartford and Stony Brook).

08-13-2014, 01:49 PM	#6
nol Banned Join Date: Oct 2003	December 2035 Some bad news to start the month as 4* PF Robbins spurns us for Seton Hall. That leaves us scrambling, but at least nobody seems desperate enough to ask my opinion on recruits. Doss was dinged up a bit in our last game, so he'll probably sit this next one against Boston University. We outclass our guests, but aren't playing with too much urgency in the first half and let them hang around. We take a 33-27 lead into intermission thanks to getting 4 points on our final possession (could have been five - scored a basket, got fouled, the player who fouled got a technical, but our non-technical foul shooter missed the free throw). Coach Holston really let them have it at halftime, and we start the 2nd half on a 21-2 run. Hopefully he remembers to save some of those speeches for Virginia Tech and UNC. With 7 minutes left, Duley and Kratzer have outscored BU 39-29. We pick up our first home win of the season in a 69-38 laugher. BU went 1-22 from 3-point land. Kratzer and Duley are our big scorers, but I'm falling more and more in love with Lindsey Jones' game each time out - 9 points on 2-3 shooting along with 10 assists, 0 turnovers, 5 boards, and 2 steals. Fairfield comes to visit us and our 3-1 record. A bench player of theirs by the name of James Damron is unconscious in the first half, and his 12 points helped them to a 39-37 lead. They're throwing a junk 2-1-2 defense at us, while we only committed one turnover for the half, our shot selection was not doing us any favors. The tone in our locker room wasn't too distraught, as we knew that playing our game combined with them cooling off a bit would bring us a W. We score the first 5 points of the 2nd half and make them call a timeout 1:30 in. We push the lead out to 8 points and miss several free throws and transition opportunities to really put a cushion between us and Fairfield, but we get enough stops and make our free throws when intentionally fouled and emerge with a 68-59 win. Duley's shooting reverted to last season's form (12 points on 3-19, 1-9 on threes), but he chipped in 7 rebounds and 6 assists without a turnover. Kratzer was our POG with 13 and 7. On the road against #7 Pittsburgh, we start out well enough. Pittsburgh's sloppy at the start with illegal screens and shot clock violations and we jump to a 16-8 lead. Then, Kratzer picks up his 2nd foul and we have to hold on for dear life. Beau comes up with some big buckets for us and we force them to call the game's first timeout as we take a 24-15 lead with 7:26 left in the half. We continue playing out of our minds, shooting 61% as a team on our way to a 42-26 halftime lead. Beau leads us with 18. The one negative is that Dave put Kratzer back in long enough for John to pick up his 3rd foul. The 2nd half is ugly basketball on both sides. We get too conservative on offense and come away with some shot clock violations. Pitt can't hold on to the ball for enough possessions in a row to manufacture a run. We win a deceptively close contest, 56-46, that saw Pitt make 2 three-pointers with under 30 seconds left. When you score 14 points in a half and still win by double digits over a top-ten team, you'll take that any day of the week. In our home tilt versus Vermont, their PF John Slaughter keeps them in the game by scoring 11 of their first 15 points. Once Dave goes to my personal favorite backcourt lineup of Duley, Doss, and Jones we quickly open a double-digit lead, but Slaughter comes right back at. With 1:40 left, our lead is back down to 31-27. He's finding too many holes in our 1-3-1, so I call for us to go back to man defense. The very next possession, Doss reads a passing lane and gets a breakaway layup. In the 2nd half, Vermont briefly takes a lead with 12 minutes to go after a Reggie Miller-like sequence from their SG Ahmed Chaisson. After a much-needed timeout, we settle down some and bring the lead back to 12 thanks to some opportune steals and transition opportunities. William Quesada had his best game in a BC uniform thus far and ends up with 15 and 6 on 6-10 shooting. He and Doss (14 and 6) really picked up the slack on the wing for Jones, who was saddled with foul trouble. Don't get too carried by our 6-1 record, though: Rutgers and Rhode Island are a combined 2-16 on the season. However, I couldn't be happier with how my first season's going so far, and we can hopefully run our record to 9-1 with 3 winnable home games to close December (Hofstra, Hartford and Stony Brook).